Final Design of Residential Tower

The final design of the Residential Tower is further developed from Sketch 5 and drawing some inspiration from various sources such as Gardens by the Bay's vertical gardens and as well as shophouses.

The idea of having the residential tower on a podium with 3 levels filled with coffee shops and clinics is based on shophouses but instead of just an apartment at the top level, it's replaced with a residential tower. There are probably a number of elderly who lived in shophouses before or know of them and having the residential tower of the elderly town based on this, it might bring a sense of familiarity to them.

The window planter box is an additional feature that was added to the final design so as to make our town more like an eco-city and adding more greenery to not just the landscape but in the building itself. This was inspired by Gardens by the Bay and decided to incorporate a vertical gardens into our town. By making a planter box which means the household can decide what they wish to grow at their windows. The planter box also serves the purpose of blocking the sunlight at the windows.

The elderly town is going to be an eco-city so the circular shape and garden dome were chosen because it reminds me of the earth which is spherical.

(Source: https://www.ecocleanerssb.com/why-eco-friendly.html)

Design Sketches Development

Bus Sketch Development

The inital idea of the bus was something wider and slightly longer but I decided to use the design of a bendy bus so as to allow more passengers and seats. Since our group is going to use the eco-friendly concept, the bus has motifs of flowers and leaves. 

Elderly Town Residential Tower Development

Started with a rectangular shaped building before developing it into square towers with linkways connecting the blocks of flats.

More greenery added to it.

Further developed the residential tower by using a hexagon shape which is inspired by honeycomb and a bee colony. The residential tower now sits on a platform like a shop house but in the form of high-rise apartments.

Our group decided on a circular shape and to experiment and play around with the design, I added a rooftop garden and a glass lift shaft at the side which can be seen on the exterior of the architecture. More greenery like trees are added and the rails of the monorail is visible on top of the platform which has an organic structure.

This is the final sketch and design. Keeping the circular shape of the tower, the lift is now relocated to the center and there is a dome rooftop garden to incorporate solar panels so as to make the Elderly Town more eco-friendly and energy saving. The monorail is no longer a part of the platform but a separate entity. Gardening plots are added and window grails with planting functions are introduced. These additional features can add more personalised and natural greenery to the town and furthermore, the idea of farming and plantation can be an idea to look into for the town.

Research for Design Solution 2

Elderly Town: Residential Towers (Architecture)

To help with coming up with the design of the residential towers, I searched for ideas both online and through books and came across several useful and informational architectural designs from the book Evolo Skyscrapers 2.

This book contains many interesting and futuristic architectural designs under various categories such as 'Technological Advances' and 'Ecological Urbanism'. I thought it will be great to draw some inspiration from the designs in the book and I picked out a few that I thought would be relevant to my group.

Firstly, it's Unit Fusion.

Unit Fusion is a design catered to the rising demand for housing especially in populated countries with limited land. This is very useful and applicable to Singapore. Its main feature of being a high-rise building (75 floors) that can have concrete units plugged when an apartment is purchased. An advanced technology like this is really fascinating and I thought it'd be something worth looking into or used as reference. 

Tower 3 Agropolis is very interesting too and also applicable to Singapore. It's a fresh living vegetable market which means the residents can grow their own crops and also consume by the residents. Water is recycled for plantation and waste used as fertilisation. It is not only environmentally friendly but cost efficient and sustainable which is the direction our group is taking for our elderly town. 

Vertical Farming is very similar to Tower 3 Agropolis, in the sense that both deals with plantation and agriculture. Vertical Farming targets the problem of increasing rice demand. However, it's not a residential architecture. Nonetheless it is still useful. The structure is built like stairs and have plantation plots upwards. This smart design in structure can save space as lesser land will be used to plant more crops and water is able to flow from the top of structure to the bottom. 

These 3 innovative designs are what fascinated me the most and thought were useful and worth looking into and maybe developed into a part of our designs. 

Research For Design Solution 1

Revamped Bus Design

Since our group decided to take the eco-friendly route and concept in our design solutions, I have decided to do some research on the technology and eco-friendly options available currently.

TOSA (Trolleybus Optimisation Système Alimentation) is a smart bus which is rechargeable. It was invented in 2013 in Geneva as an alternative to clean energy as the bus runs on electricity and will not have any carbon emissions. Furthermore, it doesn't have any noise and hence reduces noise pollution in the city. The bus is able to contain 133 passengers which is more than a regular bus capacity. A double decker SBS Transit bus in Singapore can contain 124 passengers and a bendy SMRT bus can contain 130 passengers.



Dimesions: 18m x 2.55m



Dimesions: 18.75m x 2.55m

TOSA will be a great inspiration to our group's design of our revamped bus, not only because of its eco-friendly technologies but also the design of it that is able to increase the bus capacity within the road restrictions. The idea of a bendy bus is useful for our design. It will be hard to increase the width of a bus to make it more spacious due to the fixed width of roads. A double decker bus is not ideal for elderly because of the stairs. Hence, the only option is increasing the length.


Sources:

• https://publictransportsg.wordpress.com/tag/sbs-transit-2/
• http://www.tosa2013.com/#/
• http://www.hess-ag.ch/en/busse/linienbusse/linienuebersicht.php
• http://landtransportguru.net/mercedes-benz-o405-tibs-smrt/

Design Solution 2

After our presentation and getting feedback from our lecturers, we have encountered a few main problems we had to take into consideration for our solutions and proposed design so that we can further develop them.

Firstly, since the idea of an Elderly Town is still new, our group has decided to scale down its size from the original 8 blocks of apartments to 4 blocks instead but keeping the facilities available the same. We have also decided to target the audience at elderly who are living alone, with their spouse or with family (e.g. single adults living with their parents) which means each apartment can have 1 to 4 people living inside.

We needed to find a proposed space in Singapore that is able to let us build and carry out our Elderly Town. It was suggested that we choose an outskirt part of Singapore that is undeveloped. I've decided to do some research into the urban development plan of Singapore and have found some maps that can be useful in our group's research.

The outskirts of Singapore, specifically places like Woodlands, Lim Chu Kang, Pungol and Seng Kang have a lot of room development and the government does have plans on developing areas like this as the other regions are already very crowded.

My only concern is that according to the feedback we did for our survey primary research, it was pointed out that the Elderly Town might be not as ideal because it can be seem as a solution to isolate the elderly. By placing the Elderly Town at the outskirts of the country, it does seem like we are isolating the elderly even though the town will have a bus/train interchange to help them travel out of the town. One of my proposed solution to this would be to build an Elderly Town in each region connected to existing bus interchange and MRT stations. This would solve the problem of isolation and at the same time, we can use the North Region as the area for the pioneer Elderly Town.


Source(s): 

• https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuJ5tQ4UuPF-20MDiJ5mEQiLLrAY1BNpcnWPEUT_1eLWlx47LWvzPd7DOk-9KxXSlKNPImNlaa2lnGnW9uSi9trxV9Txyc6QiVcAG-9K-DCMPiru0HRMSl0_G6uiGPZPcQYJmxrqgID8f/s1600/ST+Graphics+-Singapore+2030.jpg
• https://www.ura.gov.sg/maps/?service=MP2014_DL

Design Solution 1

Solution 1

1. Flats are built shorter in terms of length such that the lift can be located in the center and elderly do not have to walk far.
2. Eateries, clinics, convenience stores are located at void decks or 2nd to 3rd levels of the blocks for convenience.
3. A garden in the middle for the elderly to spend some time outdoors.
4. The interchange is a MRT station and has shuttle buses to aid elderly to travel outside of the town.
5. A supermarket and some shops will be located at the interchange.
6. Link bridges with shelter to allow elderly to travel within blocks to enhance interconnectedness of town.
   
   To consider: Underground carparks for visitors/residences.

Solution 2

1. Larger signboards to show bus number.
2. Replaced with ramp instead of stairs with built in handicapped ramps.
3. Different colour/design to help elderly differentiate the buses easily.
4. Wider and bigger/longer bus to contain more seats.
5. No steps inside, more railings for elderly to hold on to.
6. Emergency buttons in bus.
7. Stop buttons located strategically to make it easier for elderly to press it to alight. Placed within reach and without them having to move out of their seats before the bus stops as it's dangerous for elderly to get off their seats before the bus stops as the bus might come to a stop suddenly. 

Observation Results

Venues: 

• Void Decks
• Supermarkets
• Public Spaces (E.g. Parks, benches)
• Community Clubs

Time:

• Morning
  8am-10am
• Late Afternoon/Evening
  4pm-6pm

Morning, 8am-10am

As early as 7am, there are elderly who attend mass daily morning exercise classes held at the open spaces at the community clubs. This is part of their daily routine for those who are more active.

Supermarkets are crowded with elderly in the morning as well, specifically on Monday.

Late afternoon/evening, 4pm-6pm

Able to find elderly sitting and hanging around void decks and the public spaces such as parks and the benches located along the blocks of HDB flats. Elderly accompanying their grandchildren to the playground.

Some elderly are also seen going for walks as exercise but however facilities made for elderly like the exercise corner found in HDB estates, are hardly used.

Around this time, elderly can be seen heading home with their dinner. Either they headed out just to get food, coming home from work or coming home after going out for leisure purposes.

Research Methodology 2 (Mind Maps)

After doing research on the types of research methodologies, specifically in primary research, available and along with their purposes, advantages and disadvantages. My group chose 3 final approaches that we will take to achieve the relevant data we need in primary research.

 We wrote it down in the form of mind maps which we presented in class.

1. Online Survey

We chose to do an online survey to get quantitative data as online survey is quick and easily accessible to those who have internet access which allows us to get the numbers fast. However, the downside is that elderly may not be IT savvy which means we cannot use the approach of online survey on them. That is why we decided to target our survey at the younger audience, from 18 to 35 years old but not limited to the range. 

A change in target audience from elderly to the younger generation is not irrelevant as we can use the data to understand the relationship between the younger generation with the elderly and to see their understanding of the issues and problems faced by the elderly in the society. We can also obtain their perception of growing old, which everyone will experience, and also their understanding of the public transport and the concern of an ageing population. This allows us to not neglect the elderly who lives with their family (e.g. Children and grandchildren) during our research process as questions will be directed to people who have elderly at home. 

I believe that the data obtained from the online survey can actually provide fresh insights for us compared to approaching elderly for a survey as the mentality of young and old can be different. 

2. Interview

For interview, our target audience is the elderly, age 60 years and above who are not chosen at random (not strangers) but specific elderly like grandparents or relatives or friends. If the survey is targeted at a young audience, there is a need to collect data from the elderly and through the interview we can gain some personal and deeper understanding on the feelings of elderly with regards to our topic rather than large numbers of data. However, due to time restraints, we can't interview a large number of elderly.

3. Observations

Because of the limited number of elderly we can interview due to time restraints, we decided to use observations as one of our methods. Observations is time consuming because in order to obtain accurate results, there is a need to extend the time period of observations and it should happen over the course of maybe a week and not just one day.

But this is a fast way for us to collect data and I think that in surveys and interviews, there is always the possibility of answers not being truthful. Observations allow us to get data that are more factual and quantitative as we will be observing strangers in public places like mrt stations to know what are the preferred mode of transport or the timing(s) elderly prefers to go out or the places they usually frequent. Also if they experience any hiccups (e.g. crowded trains/buses), we can observe it through their facial expressions and body languages.

Research Methodology 1

Research Methodoloy: Ways to collect data



Types of Primary Research

Self-completion questionnaires	A series of questions that the respondent answers on their own. Self-completion questionnaires are good for collecting data on relatively simple topics, and for gaining a general overview of an issue. Questionnaires need to have clear questions, an easy to follow design, and not be too long.
Structured interviews	Similar to a self-completion questionnaire, except that the questions that are asked by an interviewer to the interviewee. The same questions are read out in the same way to all respondents. There will typically be a fixed choice of answers for the respondents.
Structured observation	Watching people and recording systematically their behaviour. Prior to the observation, an observation schedule will be produced which details what exactly the researcher should look for and how those observations should be recorded.

In-depth interviews	A way of asking questions which allows the interviewee to have more control of the interview. The interview could be semi-structured, which uses an interview schedule to keep some control of the interview, but also allows for some flexibility in terms of the interviewee’s responses. The interview could be unstructured, here the aim is to explore the interviewee’s feelings about the issue being explored and the style of questioning is very informal. Or the interview could be a life history where the interviewer tries to find out about the whole life, or a portion of the person’s life.
Focus groups	A form of interviewing where there are several participants; there is an emphasis in the questioning on a tightly defined topic; the accent is on interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning. The moderator tries to provide a relatively free rein to the discussion.
Participant observation	This involves studying people in naturally occurring settings. The researcher participates directly in the setting and collects data in a systematic manner. The researcher will observe behaviour, listen to conversations, and ask questions.

(Source: http://www.socscidiss.bham.ac.uk/methodologies.html)

Possible primary research methods to use in our project:

1. Self-completion questionnaires (Online surveys) to get quantitative data.
2. In-depth interviews to get qualitative data. This can be done with participant observation so as to collect more data from the general public and widens the target audience. 

Summary for Chapter 1 Part 2

However, the current implementations might not work in the long run as the needs of elderly are ever changing. These solutions might solve the problem now for the current generation of the elderly. What about the future when the needs and lifestyle of the elderly changes? When coming up with possible solutions, having foresight is important. Many factors, specifically lifestyle, play a huge role in affecting the needs of elderly when it comes to transport. Studying these factors can help in predicting future trends and coming up with solutions that would succeed in the long run which not only does it solve the problem now but helps in tackling the issue down the road.

It is important to further understand the difficulties and hassles an elderly can face with regards to public transport. This is a problem that concerns everyone and requires everyone’s attention, understanding and help as humans will age and at some point face these difficulties when travelling within the community.

Sources:

Book: Wachs, Martin. 'Transportation For The Elderly: Changing Lifestyle, Changing Needs'. United States of America: University of California Press, 1979.

Newspaper: 'Better Public Transport Access For Elderly: Minister'. The New Paper. 17 Nov. 2014. 4.

Website: Pickut, Walt. 'Top 10 Problems The Elderly Face With Transportation'. Livestrong.com. 11 Oct. 2015. Accessed 23 Jan 2016. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/358682-top-ten-problems-the-elderly-face-with-transportation/>

Summary for Chapter 1 Part 1

Due to the deteriorating health of the elderly, transportation becomes a hassle for all elderly even those without any physical disabilities. The elderly who used to drive may find themselves unable to be on the road as their reflexes may not be up for the task of driving. Hence, elderly can only depend on public transport.

However, public transport might not be as elderly-friendly as we thought. Not all elderly live near the bus stops and MRT stations. This is an inconvenience for them because they do not have the strength to walk far.  Furthermore, buses or MRT stations might not be built to include elderly-friendly facilities. For example, the steps leading up a bus might be too steep and could be difficult for an elder to get on.

The Singapore government acknowledges this problem and has plans to make our public transport more elderly-friendly. By providing more seats at bus stops and MRT stations so that elderly do not have to stand when waiting for buses and trains as wait times can be longer at non-peak hours if elderly choose to avoid the crowd. Adding lifts to overhead bridges is very helpful as this increases the accessibility of bus stops for the elderly, allowing them to travel to places via buses and the additional option of travelling to MRT stations via buses and not have to walk. 

Sources:

Book: Wachs, Martin. 'Transportation For The Elderly: Changing Lifestyle, Changing Needs'. United States of America: University of California Press, 1979.

Newspaper: 'Better Public Transport Access For Elderly: Minister'. The New Paper. 17 Nov. 2014. 4.

Website: Pickut, Walt. 'Top 10 Problems The Elderly Face With Transportation'. Livestrong.com. 11 Oct. 2015. Accessed 23 Jan 2016. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/358682-top-ten-problems-the-elderly-face-with-transportation/>

Case Study 1

SOURCE: Kwan, Weng Kin. 'Cheap, On-demand Transport For Japan's Elderly'. The Straits Times. 8 Sep. 2014. A12. 

Singapore faces the problem of ageing population like Japan does and both countries being in Asia, I found it ideal to obtain a case study from Japan as to see how other country tackles the problem of elderly transportation. 

Japan is a lot bigger than Singapore so unlike Singapore, they do not have train stations located within they vicinity and the people have to travel by buses or taxis. Bus stops are located far and taxis are too expensive. Hence, to make transport more accessible for the elderly, the Japanese government introduced an on-demand bus specifically for the elderly to bring them to places like hospitals and supermarkets for grocery shopping. This cheap, on-demand bus works by booking in advance and a eight-passenger bus would pick up the elderly and drive them to their destinations. With the government subsidy, this service is very affordable for the elderly in Japan. 

However, despite the affordability and convenience of this new service, the demand for it still fall short of what the company in-charge was expecting. This is because elderly may choose not to travel unless necessary like to hospitals which may not even be frequent trips and for them it might be easier to avoid crowds and stay at home instead. Hence, the service goes unused, making it costly to maintain this service.

When I imagine this service being carried out in Singapore, the pick-up points can be a problem. Japan has garbage collection points in housing areas that can be used as pick-up points but Singapore does not. It might be hard to allocate pick-up points. 

This reminded me very much of shuttle buses that hospitals or shopping malls provide for the general public that we already have in Singapore. However, these shuttle buses are limited in pick-up points. 

It might seem like this solution may not work for Singapore but it would be a good solution for housing estates that are more populated with elderly or estates that do not have bus stops or MRT stations within reasonable distance and choosing pick-up points within every few blocks of flats would be ideal. By doing so can make this solution more cost-efficient as well.

Bibliography

Books

1. Wachs, Martin. 'Transportation For The Elderly: Changing Lifestyle, Changing Needs'. United States of America: University of California Press, 1979.
   
2. Norman, Alison. 'Transport And The Elderly: Problems And Possible Action'. London: National Corp. for the Care of Old People, 1977. 

Magazines/Newspapers

1. 'Better Public Transport Access For Elderly: Minister'. The New Paper. 17 Nov. 2014. 4.
   
2. Kwan, Weng Kin. 'Cheap, On-demand Transport For Japan's Elderly'. The Straits Times. 8 Sep. 2014. A12. 

Websites

1. Pickut, Walt. 'Top 10 Problems The Elderly Face With Transportation'. Livestrong.com. 11 Oct. 2015. Accessed 23 Jan 2016. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/358682-top-ten-problems-the-elderly-face-with-transportation/>
   
2. Tsao Foundation. Created 2013. Accessed 23 Jan 2016. <http://tsaofoundation.org/>

Persona (Roleplay)

Persona (Roleplay)

Name: Tan Wee Kiat
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Occupation: Cleaner
Family condition: Living alone after spouse passed away and children neglected him
Family members: Children
Address: Blk 16 Eunos Crescent #11-23

What Makes A Good Presentation + Example

10 points of a good presentation: 

1. Good understanding of topic
   Without understanding the topic, we won't be able to deliver the presentation to audience and they might not be able to catch the message we intended to deliver.
   
2. Concise content
   Presentation should be concise and straight to the point.
   
3. Entertaining
   Long presentations might need some ice-breakers in between. Not only to deliver the presentation, we might also need audience to respond to our presentation.
   
4. Confident and relaxed
   The main pillar that support the presentation is confidence in our presentation and relaxed in delivering it.
   
5. Clear articulation and voice should be loud enough to be heard by audience
   Sound systems might be helpful to allow our voice to be heard by large audience and clear articulation allow audience to understand what we're talking about.
   
6. Inflection in speech
   A flat speech will be boring and thus, adding inflections allow our presentation to be more dynamic.
   
7. Making eye contact with audience and smile
   Making eye contact and smiling to the audience allow the audience to be more relaxed and help them to understand better.
   
8. Motions
   Making hand motions or moving around the stage during a presentation allow the presentation look more natural and add up to our confidence. Overdoing it would be bad though.
   
9. Good conclusion
   Having a good conclusion is the main point of the presentation.
   
10. Visual aids
    Visual aids such as slides, images or videos, allow the presentation to be more entertaining as well.

Example of a good presentation:https://www.ted.com/talks/alison_killing_what_happens_when_a_city_runs_out_of_room_for_its_dead